Pneumatic pruning-saw.



No. 728,069. PATENTED MAY 12, 1903.

W. YOUNG. PNEUMATIC PRUNING ,SAW.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 16, 1903.

N0 MODEL.

W1TNESSES. I 44,. I V I ATTORNE 'NrrED STATE Patented Ma 12, 1903.

WESLEY YOUNG, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.

PNEUMATIC PRUNlNg-SAW.

tSPEGIFIGATION, forming part of Letters Patent No. 728,069, dated May 12, 1903.

" Application filed February 16, 1903. $erial No. 143,579. (No model.) 7 I To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WESLEY YOUNG, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city and county of San Francisco, State of California, have invented an Improvement in Pneumatic Pruning-Saws; and I hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same.

My invention relatesto improvements in apparatus for trimming and pruningfruittrees and the like, and has reference particu-- larly to a portable sawing device which is operated by compressed air. Its object is to provide a convenient, light, and portable en glue and saw which may be easily held in the hands and by which limbs and branches too large for pruning-shears and inconvenient of access for hand-sawing may be severed with ease and in far less time than they could have been by ordinary pruning or hand-sawing methods. I v

It consists of the parts and the construction and combination of parts hereinafter more fully described, having reference to the accompanying drawings, in which-- Figure 1 is an elevation of the apparatus viewed from one side, the dotted lines showing the relative position of the guides when the saw has nearly severed the limb. Fig. 2 is a view of the opposite side of the saw mechanism and guides. Fig. 3 is a top View of the apparatus.

A represents a tubular handle of suitable light material and of the desired 1ength, hav-; ing means at its lower end, as at a, for controlling the admission of compressed air or equivalent propelling medium derivable from;

any convenient source of supply. A cylinder 2 is disposed transversely of and secured to the upper end of thehandle, and suitable valve mechanism and connections between the interior of the cylinder and the hollow of the handle are provided which need not here be shown or described in detail, it being understood that on the admission of fluid through the handle the piston-rod 3, to which the saw tis attached, will be reciprocated with great rapidity. The piston-rod 3 is slidable in a suitable guide-bracket 5, supported from the cylinder, and the saw is of sufficient feed bar 6.

stiifness so as not to be bent or buckled while operating on a limb.

It is to be noted that the saw-teeth are all pitched so that they cut on the inward o draw movement of the. saw.

In order to support the apparatusproperly upon a limb and to take the strain ofi of the saw to protect the same, prevent vibration, and obviate any tendency to deviate from the cutting-plane, I provide a yielding guide or This bar or plate forms a sheathing for the saw on one side and. at the end and on top, and normally its lower edge pro- 'jects belowthe' saw-teeth Plate 6 is carried on the ends of the rigidly-connected bracketarms 7, which have a vertical portion slidable in keepers 8 on a stationary part of the appa ratus and a horizontal portion attached to a sleeve 9, slidable on handle A. A spring 10,

. having one end connected with a fixed collar b on the handle and the other to the sleeve, acts upon the latter always to draw it and the bracket arms and plate 6 downwardto cause the latter, as before said, normally to extend below the saw-teeth. The plate has a notch 11, with upwardly-converging walls cut in its side.

In operation the apparatus is hooked-ov er a limb with the latter resting in the notch, so that when the saw is st in motion the pl'ate and the rest of the'apparatus is held rigid in relationto the saw. As the saw is advanced through theiwoodthe operator pulls down sufiiciently'to cause springlO to give and let plate 6 rise, so that when the limb is about severed if the limb is a large one the lower edge of the plate may be above the saw.

An "apparatus of this sort may be made light and portable and a limb may be cut ofi in far less time than it could be done by ordinary hand-sawing methods andwithout the incident fatigue of the latter.

Having thus described my inventiom-what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters'Ratout, is-

1. In a tree-trimming apparatus, thecom bination of a portable support, an engine thereon, a saw reciprocable by said engine, and a yielding guide-plate having a seat to receive the limb.

2. In a tree-trimming apparatus, the combination of a handle, a reciprocating engine thereon, a saw reciprocable by said engine, and a spring-pressed limb-guide in relation to the saw and having a seat for the limb.

3. In a tree-trimming apparatus, the combination of a handle, a reciprocating engine rigid therewith, a saw reciprocable by said engine, and a vertically-yieldable limb-guide in relation to the saw having a seat for the limb.

4. In a tree-trimming apparatus, the combination of a handle, a reciprocating engine thereon, a saw reciprocable thereby, and a vertically-yieldable guide-plate in relation to the saw, said plate having a notch in its nnder side adapted as a seat for the limb.

5. In a tree-trimming apparatus, the combination of a handle, an engine carried thereby, a saw reciprocable by said engine, and an automatically-yieldable guide-plate in relation to the saw having seating means to receive the limb.

6. In a tree-trimming apparatus, the combination of a tubular handle, a cylinder disposed transversely thereon, a piston reciprocable in said cylinder, connections between said cylinder and a suitable source of powersupply through said handle, a piston-rod and a saw secured thereto, and a vertically-yieldable spring-actuated limb-support in relation to the saw.

In Witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

WESLEY YOUNG.

Witnesses:

S. H. NOURSE, JESSIE G. BRODIE. 

